Aides said details of the enticements were still being worked on but critics insisted ministers should be helping jobless Scots before “bribing” immigrants.

Scottish Conservative infrastructure spokesman Alex Johnstone said: “Instead of trying to bribe immigrants to come to Scotland and fill these many rural vacancies, the SNP should be focusing on the people without work and getting them to the areas where the jobs are.

“Employers have no problem attracting foreigners to jobs, and many rely heavily on them. But it makes no sense for these incentives to be in place when we have so many unemployment black spots of our own.”

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch, said: “The idea of directing migrants to certain parts of the country just seems like a nonsense to me – this isn’t the old Soviet Union.

“You can send people to one part of the country but they’ll soon just move wherever they like.”

It has sparked claims that different immigration polices between Scotland and the rest of the UK after independence would result in border controls.

Measures to encourage foreign students to stay in Scotland after graduating would be introduced after a Yes vote next year, along with initiatives to attract migrants to work in more remote areas suffering depopulation.

Speaking ahead of International Migrants Day, Mr Yousaf said: “It’s important to celebrate the enormous contribution migrants have made – and will continue to make – to the Scottish economy, our culture and our society.

“Migration has been good for Scotland. We have different needs to the rest of the UK and healthy population growth is important for our economy.” He said the current system means many migrants do not enjoy the family life others “take for granted”, because their immediate relatives are not granted visa access.

Figures from the Migration Observatory census profile showed that the country’s foreign-born population increased by 93 per cent between 2001 and 2011.

The Scottish Government said details of the incentives for migrants were still being worked.

A spokeswoman added: “Scotland has shortages of skilled workers to fill jobs in key sectors. In addition, our population demographics require skilled immigration in the future and independence will give us the chance to fill those gaps.”